Melbourne’s draft economic development strategy open for public comment

The City of Melbourne has released its draft economic development strategy for public consultation following its March 25 council meeting.

This draft has been in the works since February 6 last year, when councillors requested that a new strategy be developed.

The council’s current strategy – Melbourne’s Thriving Economic Future – was implemented in June 2021 as a plan to guide the city over the next 10 years and reflected “the challenges of the city at the time” focused on pandemic recovery.

The City of Melbourne’s economic context has changed markedly since the time this strategy was endorsed.

Compared to pandemic times, the economy is “buoyant”; however, the city still sees the lingering effects of COVID-19 lockdowns, such as low office occupancy, bringing forth “new challenges and opportunities.”

A new economic strategy, different from ones suited to pre-COVID and the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, has since been deemed necessary by the council.

All 41 sections of the current long-term plan are being reworked. Eleven actions are now complete, with eight transitioning to business-as-usual work of the council.

The draft is organised around three key strategic opportunities, listed in its March 25 report as “A Global Powerhouse for Innovation”, “A Magnet for the World’s Brightest Minds”, and “Alive with Energy”.

These are pinpointed areas that the council hopes will “advance the city’s growth evenly and sustainably.”

However, not all community members are pleased with the strategy.

In his submission, president of CBD residents’ group East Enders Dr Stan Capp said that while the strategy “looks reasonable”, the process was not what he expected “given the rhetoric about community engagement” from the council.

Dr Capp points out that until the council’s Melbourne 2050 Vision and Council Plan has been officially accepted, long-term economic planning is counterintuitive.

He added that this was linked to the council’s own statement that “economic growth is not an end to itself; it is critical that growth is in service to the community’s vision and values.”

Dr Capp argued that to accept an economic strategy that was intended to serve community needs while these same needs are currently being debated within a separate council initiative could malign the resulting plans.

He was particularly critical how residents and community representatives had been omitted from the consultation process, despite “[contributing] significantly to the economy”.

This, he Dr Capp argued, was a failure of the council to comply with it owns City of Melbourne Community Engagement Policy (2021), adding that a survey on Participate Melbourne didn’t cut it.

“This is far from acceptable to several resident groups with whom I have consulted and could well be seen as simply ‘ticking the box’, adding that these surveys are not conducive to engaging residents meaningfully in council politics,” Dr Capp said.

“We need to be thinking more seriously about deliberative engagement than the route of Participate Melbourne (the ‘CONSULT’ pillar). This means adopting the ‘INVOLVE’ or ‘COLLABORATE’ pillars.”

Dr Capp recommended redrafting the strategy after the approval of the 2050 Community Vision to “ensure that engagement is consistent with City of Melbourne policies”.

He also recommended residents be “afforded the extensive engagement and consultation as other stakeholders”.

“Please remember that we live, we pay our rates, and we vote at council elections. We contribute to the economic activity of the City of Melbourne, and we love our city. We might even have some good ideas!”

Despite this, the council resolved to approve the draft for consultation and has released it for public comment via Participate Melbourne until May 13.

Public feedback will then be incorporated, and a revised version presented for consideration at the council’s meeting on June 24.

The survey can be found here.